Albert Carl Roeth III Killed after tree falls on his Mercedes in Great Falls, Va.

GREAT FALLS, Va. (WUSA) - A massive tree fell onto a car on Georgetown Pike on Tuesday, killing the occupant, an adult male, and closing the road in both directions, according to Fairfax police.

"Albert Carl Roeth III, 64, was driving his 2008 Mercedes CL600 southbound on Georgetown Pike on Tuesday, July 17, shortly after 6:30 p.m. As he was passing through the 9900 block of Georgetown Pike, a very large tree unexpectedly fell from the right side of the roadway directly onto the Mercedes," police said in a Wednesday morning news release.

A police spokeswoman said because of the tree's size, seven or eight feet in diameter, police had difficulties reaching Roeth's body.

Witnesses say the tree came down in an instant.

The police spokeswoman says tree was old and rotten, and several hundred years old, but officials haven't confirmed the reason it fell.

The police spokeswoman said a large wrecker was called in to remove the tree, and that the process could take hours. Crews pulled the car from under the tree just after 9:30 p.m.